U.S. Supreme Court certiorari

ARTICLES

While the U.S. Supreme Court is still considering Indiana’s petition for a review of two abortion laws blocked by the lower courts, another abortion petition from the Hoosier state has been listed for the justices’ May 9 conference. Indiana filed a writ of certiorari Feb. 4, asking the Supreme Court to uphold its law requiring an ultrasound be performed on women seeking an abortion at least 18 hours before the procedure.

Indiana’s petition for a review of its abortion law has been relisted for an eighth conference at the U.S. Supreme Court, raising suspicions that the case will not be accepted but could bring a fiery dissent.

The petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a law restricting abortions in Indiana has been distributed for a fifth conference with the justices. Now the petition has been scheduled for consideration Feb. 22.

The Supreme Court of the United States will not hear an appeal that sought to restrict public access to the Indiana shore of Lake Michigan. Justices let stand an Indiana Supreme Court decision that found a public access right to the state’s 45 miles of Great Lakes beaches.

A bill that defines the shore of Lake Michigan as belonging to the public and spells out public recreational uses of the shoreline has moved to the full Indiana Senate. Meanwhile, a petition seeking to privatize Indiana’s Great Lakes beaches will be before justices of the Supreme Court of the United States this week.

The Hoosier state has filed its second abortion-related appeal this week, this time urging a federal appeals court to uphold states’ authority to regulate abortion clinics. Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill joined forces with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to lead a 16-state coalition in favor of a Kentucky law requiring abortion clinics to maintain transfer-and-transportation agreements with local hospitals and ambulance services.

Indiana is again appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn a preliminary injunction blocking a state abortion law, this one requiring women to get an ultrasound at least 18 hours before the procedure. The provision was included in House Enrolled Act 1337, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2016.

The state of Indiana and a community group favoring public access to the shore of Lake Michigan have filed briefs urging the Supreme Court of the United States to reject an appeal that could partly privatize the state’s 45 miles of Great Lakes beaches. Briefs filed Friday urge the high court to affirm the Indiana Supreme Court ruling that found the public has a right to walk along the shore of Lake Michigan from the water’s edge to the ordinary high water mark.

Indiana’s petition for a review of its 2016 abortion law is still pending at the Supreme Court of the United States after the justices relisted the Hoosier state’s writ of certiorari for this Friday’s conference. The state is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of a law that limits when a woman may terminate her pregnancy and mandates how fetal remains should be handled.

While the Supreme Court of the United States has yet to agree to hear an abortion rights case this term, a petition from Indiana regarding its law regulating the disposal of fetal remains and prohibiting women from terminating their pregnancies based on race, sex or disability remains under consideration. Indiana filed a writ of certiorari after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction against 2016's House Enrolled Act 1337.